In the ongoing Lok Sabha session, Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury targeted Nirmala Sitharaman saying that the Finance Minister should rather be called "Nirbala" (powerless).
"I have a lot of respect for you but at times I feel that instead of calling you Nirmala Sitharaman I should call you 'Nirbala' Sitharaman," Chowdhury took a jibe at her, using a play upon her name.
"You hold a ministerial post but are you even able to assert yourself (on government policies)? he questioned.
Later on Monday, Nirmala Sitharaman in Lok Sabha said, "I have been told that I am the worst Finance Minister. They're not even waiting for me to finish my term. I told them that please give me more ideas, we will work on it. If there's a government that listens, it is PM Modi's government," she said.
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"I have been called names in Parliament. If it is in anyone's DNA to ask questions and run away before answers are given, it is some other party and not our party. Each time we come to give replies instead of name-calling," she added.
Earlier on Sunday, Chowdhury had sparked another controversy by calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah "ghuspetiye" or "infiltrators".
He was speaking in the House on National Register Of Citizen (NRC) and Citizenship Amendment Bill.
"Is India someone's property? Everyone has equal right over it. I can say Amit Shah, Narendra Modi you are infiltrators yourselves. Your home is in Gujarat and you have come to Delhi, you are migrants," he said in Hindi.
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Meanwhile, on Friday, India's economic growth slipped further to hit an over six-year low of 4.5 per cent in July-September.
(with inputs from agencies)
